The week that my son was diagnosed with severe food allergies, Duke University Medical Center researchers reported that a peanut-allergy cure might be only five years away. At the time, I reacted the same way I do to claims that scientists are on the verge of curing diabetes: I’ll believe it when I see it.
I’m not a natural cynic. I tend to trust people in general as well as information from authoritative sources. Want to play a practical joke on someone? I’m your man.
But having lived with a chronic and incurable disease for 10 years, I’ve learned to take proclamations about possible cures with many grains of salt (like a barrelful). Consider this promising news release that describes a new study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology:
“New research suggests that beating childhood egg allergy is literally a piece of cake.
“In a preliminary study, researchers in Greece demonstrated that gradually exposing allergic children to heat-treated egg—such as those in baked goods—could help them overcome the allergy.”
Wow, it sure sounds simple—and for our son Graeme’s sake, I hope that it (cake) pans out. Adding eggs back to his diet would make a lot of things easier, particularly in the kitchen. In addition to gobbling up omelets and scrambled eggs, Graeme could have the rich cakes, meringues, and curds I like to make. The ingredients in our homemade ice cream would blend together better, and we wouldn’t worry so much about how dishes are made in restaurants.
It’s easy to get your hopes up when you read about therapeutic advances in the news. But this study is preliminary, and the trial—involving 94 children—is small. It could take years for it to be validated and put into practice. (In fact, some allergists are worried that parents will read about this study and a similar one on milk, and try this immunotherapy approach at home—with dangerous consequences.)
Basically, what makes a great headline today is usually years from being a practical approach we can apply to our lives. For now, there is no shortcut to keeping Graeme safe. We must feed him with caution and always with an EpiPen at the ready.
(PHOTO: 123RF)
Recent posts by Sean Kelley:
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